Muirfield...survival of the fittest

[cary lichtenstein]

My wife and I played Muirfield as part of 2 trips to Scotland. We loved Dornock, St. Andrews, Ballybunion, royal County Down, and pretty much disliked both Muirfield and Carnoutie. The later 2 we just so punishishing.

Watching Muirfield slaughter or attempt to slaughter the top players,  makes me wonder if perhaps it is a great major tournament venue, that will produce the victor that is the strongest gladiator, the strongest mind, the most determined, the best player under the greatest test...survival of the fitest or is it something the players down deep hate hope hope never to return to?

[Brent Carlson]

Interesting observation Cary.  No doubt Muirfield will produce the best champion. 

It's surprising that so many dislike Muirfield.  When I was in East Lothian I was expecting to like N. Berwick the best.  However after playing Muirfield, N. Berwick was a big letdown to me.  (I know sacrilege on this site).  I liked everything about it from the land, routing, views, lunch, etc.  With the conditions as dry as they are no doubt it's grinding on the participants.  When the course is not rock hard it's much more forgiving.

[Mac Plumart]

 makes me wonder if perhaps it is a great major tournament venue

There is no question about it.  Perhaps it is THE greatest.

[John Shimp]

The players love the course.  They think the setup is a bit over the top his year it seems.  Overall i sense nothing but respect and from the strong players good feelings. 

Muirfield and Carnoustie are very different. I have found Muirfield to be straightforward compared to the complexities of the old course for instance or the more random fiarway kicks at birkdale or st georges. 

You do seem to need some real resilience and an all around game to play it though. It really separates good and bad play which i think is part of what makes it a great championship venue. 

[Jason Thurman]

You do seem to need some real resilience and an all around game to play it though. It really separates good and bad play which i think is part of what makes it a great championship venue. 

I'm having a hard time seeing what's so great about the course on tv, but I think your last sentence might help me a bit. As much as the features don't come through on television, it's still obvious that the course is an exacting test with an often very fine line between an excellent shot and a very poor one. Perhaps that explains why no one can sustain excellent play, as going after great shots also brings the worst shots into play. Yet, with the fairways and greens as fast as they are this week, there's really no such thing as a truly safe play either.

There's certainly something confounding about the course.

[Thomas Dai]

makes me wonder if perhaps it is a great major tournament venue

There is no question about it.  Perhaps it is THE greatest.

Difficult to disagree with this from Mac.

I'd just add how lucky the chaps are at Muirfield this week. Not just from the privilege etc aspect, but if they were playing at Carnoustie this week with the same ground and weather conditions many of them would be looking for mummy to either mop away their tears with a tissue or pick up the toys that they'd thrown out of the pram.
ATB

[Mark Pearce]

Music field punishes bad shots or bad thinking, that's certainly true.  It also rewards well played shots and smart thinking in a way Carnoustie does not.  Anyone who complains that they didn't't enjoy Muirfield because it beat them up either didn't play well or didn't think well.

[Rich Goodale]

Music field punishes bad shots or bad thinking, that's certainly true.  It also rewards well played shots and smart thinking in a way Carnoustie does not.  Anyone who complains that they didn't't enjoy Muirfield because it beat them up either didn't play well or didn't think well.

If Westwood or Jiminez wins, it will be survival of the fattest....

[Doug Siebert]

Muirfield can be punishing if you don't hit the ball straight off the tee, but it has a lot of company in that respect.  It is a contrast with say TOC's width or Turnberry offering fat sections of fairway in some of the more difficult driving holes if you're willing to trade length to take advantage of them.

They also come far closer than any other Open rota course I've played to giving you the actual Open test.  At least when I played it in 2001 the setup was almost identical to the 2002 Open.  The fairways were the same width, the rough was the same height (actually higher when I played, from what I could tell) and they had the Open tees in play that day on all par 3s and par 4s.  If that's the way most find it during a visit of course it will seem like a tougher test, compared to the toy setups some courses in the rota use to get us slow Americans round in a reasonable amount of time.

[Jud_T]

Rich,

Westwood looks almost trim compared to a couple years ago.

Cary,

The players may get their wish about not returning to Muirfield granted if the members vote to remain a sausagefest.